Chapter 1: The Company of the Dead

After his father’s mysterious death, Raymond von Birken inherits the solitude he has always wanted: a secluded house opposite an abandoned cemetery. The dead make few demands. The living are less considerate. Marie arrives determined to care for him. Her friend Amélia watches that devotion with growing alarm. Between unsolicited gifts, sleepless nights, and a presence Raymond cannot explain, his retreat offers little peace. Told through the diaries of Raymond, Marie, and Amélia, The Company of the Dead opens the saga with unwanted affection, deliberate cruelty, and the uneasy question of whether the living are any better company than the dead.